


Switch on the Sky (And the Stars Glow for You)

by synchronicities



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: Family Fluff, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-08
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-12-12 20:56:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11745042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/synchronicities/pseuds/synchronicities
Summary: Craig breaks the news of his relationship to a few people.





	Switch on the Sky (And the Stars Glow for You)

**Author's Note:**

> Craig’s so great you guys, everyone else has drama about difficult kids and being themselves, but Craig’s arc is just about making time for yourselves and that’s important too.

He tries to tell the girls a month after the fact.

“We know,” Hazel says bluntly, blinking at him over the grilled chicken Caesar. Craig’s eyebrows rise of his own volition. Beside him in the high chair, River gurgles something incomprehensible, waving Arnold around by the leg. Absently, he notes that the seams on the legs are coming off again, after he’d haphazardly sewn it together following the Incident that He and Joseph Have Promised to Never Speak of Again. He’s never been the best with a needle, and makes a mental note to ask Damien for help sometime down the line.

“You’re not exactly subtle about it,” Briar offers, giving him a sympathetic smile. He smiles back indulgently. She really is the good twin. “And neither is Amanda, or Amanda’s dad.”

Well, that makes sense. “Amanda, huh.” She’s a good kid, and he raised her well. Craig still remembers awkwardly taking her tiny form from Alex. He hadn’t even known how to _hold_ babies then, and now Amanda’s going off to college in _a month_.

“Yeah, she told us, like, two weeks ago,” Hazel adds. “We thought you’d just tell us when you were ready.”

His heart warms. He’d thought they were being subtle, but news apparently travels fast on the cul-de-sac. “So…it’s okay? I know you girls haven’t known him for so long, but…”

“Dad,” Briar cuts in gently. “You always used to tell us lots of stuff about you in college–”

Hazel grins. “Well, the PG-13 ones–”

“And it was mostly warnings about your lifestyle–”

“Can we live on fried chicken for a week, too?”

“ _Girls_ ,” he has to interrupt, fond.

Briar giggles. “Anyway, he was always in those stories.”

Hazel nods. “So we kind of knew about him growing up, so we weren’t really surprised when he moved here and you guys basically became BFFs again.”

“And it’s just logical, right?” Briar looks at him again. “If you love each other now, too.”

Craig smiles, leans back in to his chair, listening to River laugh and clap at something as Hazel steals a piece of chicken off of Briar’s salad. _Yeah_ , he supposes. What they have isn’t the constant friendship and support that his other neighbors have showered him with, nor is it only the easy camaraderie they had in college. He’s never been good with words, but he knows it’s something better, something _purer. Yeah,_ he thinks. _Guess it is pretty logical._

* * *

 

He knows he’s pretty lucky as far as divorcees go. Ashley hasn’t made any attempts on his life, is always on time with child support, has a tolerable new boyfriend, and gets to see the girls when she’s in town. Today, she’s driving the girls two cities over to stay with her parents for a week before summer ends, and she’s currently sitting at his dining table, tucking into a couple of his famous flourless banana pancakes as Briar and Hazel rush around the house, tucking things into their suitcases even if Craig told them to finish packing the night before.

“Oh!” she says, recognition dawning on her face when he tells her the news. “I remember him. Your roommate up to junior year, right?”

“Yeah.” He can’t quite help the smile that creeps onto his face. “He moved back here, just recently. Actually, he’s just two houses down from me. And we just…reconnected, you know?”

Ashley squeezes a bit more syrup than he’s comfortable with onto her pancakes, her lip jutting out like it does when she’s frustrated. “Damn,” she says, looking at him once they’ve been suitably drenched in sugar. “I was rooting for your other neighbor. The hipster one, with the tattoos.”

That gets a laugh out of him. “Mat’s a bro, but he’s not really my type.”

She smiles at him, looking only the tiniest bit rueful. “Types don’t really matter so much when you’re in your forties,” she says cryptically. “I’m happy for you, Craig. It’s good you’re making time for yourself.”

“You know it.” He flashes her a winning smile. Ashley’s always tried her best to be supportive, even when things were getting bad, or when they were arguing about the business and River’s appointments and all those other things that seem so far away now. "Amanda helped out a lot with the business over the summer, but now she's off to college, so I hired someone else in her place. It frees up some more of my schedule."

She hums. "That's great," she says, sincerely.

He eyes her across the table. “You don’t mind?”

“Well, I’d be unhappier if you spent the rest of your life pining away for me,” she replies, carelessly shrugging one shoulder. It's a joke between them, when they'd spent the last years of their marriage doing the exact opposite. “It’s fine, Craig. This is good. And if he fucks up, well, I’m still technically a black belt.” Ashley drops the topic then, and they talk about her new job until Briar and Hazel come down the stairs, identical sheepish smiles on their faces, River squirming in Hazel’s arms.

“See you in a week,” she says, her eyes unsubtly eyeing the house two doors down and sending him a meaningful look. He can’t help but follow her gaze. Only Amanda’s car is in the garage, and he’s maybe only a little relieved. Mat’s tending to his lawn, though, and he waves at him.

Craig laughs, waves, and shuts the car door after his daughters pile in the backseat. “Okay, okay, Ash. Drive safe.”

* * *

 

“This is the day I die,” he murmurs. Craig’s got a hand on the small of his back, keeping him from turning around and meeting the gazes of all the softball moms. It’s the first major game of the season, and the team’s mothers have turned out in full support. “If they find my body in the lake tomorrow morning, promise me you’ll get Amanda through college. And it’ll almost certainly have been Janet. Her fingerprints will be on a softball bat.”

“I’ll start a Kickstarter, bro,” Craig says absently, tearing his gaze from tracking the ball to smile fondly at him. It’s hard not to, with the way his hair falls into his eyes and the way his fingers unconsciously twist around in his lap. Also, Craig got him a team jersey, and he fills it out really nicely.  “You already met the ex-wife, this should be a piece of cake.”

“Smashley always liked me,” he says, poking River on the cheek. She giggles. “Janet and Martha wanted to harvest me for my organs before we ever even had a real conversation.”

Well, fair point.

“We don’t actually have to face them after, bro,” he offers, before turning to holler out a cheer after Hazel makes a mad dash to third base and barely makes it. “We can sneak out, pile the girls in your car, then hide out in the woods for a bit. I give it three days before Janet gives up.”

“And miss out on free pizza?” He shoots Craig a gentle smile, squeezes his hand. “I guess we have to deal with it sooner or later.” With that, they turn their attention back to the game.

Craig’s team wins, because of course they do, and Janet does indeed invite them all out for pizza, because of course she does. Also unsurprisingly, Helen and Janet corner him before Craig’s even made sure that all the girls have a slice on their plates.

“- how do you know Craig?” Helen’s asking, polite smile firmly in place.

He flounders. It’s cute. “We were roommates in college. He moved here sometime before I did, and we ended up reconnecting.”

“Ah,” says Janet, glaring daggers. “That’s wonderful. It’s always good to have a friendly face in a new place.”

“You’re lucky to have a _good friend_ like Craig,” says Helen.

Craig walks over before someone gets disemboweled. His face lights up as Craig approaches, and threads their fingers together. Helen and Janet track the movement with their gazes. Craig starts regretting not bringing a bread knife from the table.

“Actually–” Craig starts.

“ _Actually_ ,” he cuts in, smile spreading across his face. “We’re more than friends, now.” And then he leans in and kisses Craig on the lips, quick and fleeting, but he finds himself chasing the movement after he pulls away.

“That’s – great,” says Janet through gritted teeth.

“We’re really happy for you. Congratulations,” Helen adds, seething.

“Thanks, bros,” Craig finds it in him to say, before his boyfriend tugs him away from them with a quick “We’ll be going now!”

Craig has to laugh. "I think that went well."

"You think?" A chuckle, flushed cheeks. It's a good look. "You're not going to find my waterlogged body tomorrow morning?"

"If anything," Craig says, linking their hands again as they sit down, "I'm probably gonna drown with you, bro."

"That's real sweet, Craig." He gestures to the pizzas the girls are maybe halfway done devouring. “So I know you’re not big on pizza grease,” he rambles. “But have you tried their margherita? It’s amazing. I’ve honestly died and gone to heaven. Tell Amanda there are lots of dogs.”

He’s so earnest. Craig can’t help it, he kisses him again, and again, and again.


End file.
